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Danbury's Kevin Jack falls one win shy of All-American honors at NCAA Div. I nationals

NEW YORK, March 18 – With the competition so tight and so close, getting the first takedown can make the difference.

Because North Carolina’s Joseph Ward was able to get the first takedown, Ward was able to beat North Carolina State’s Kevin Jack Friday night and earn All-American honors at the NCAA Division I national championships.

Ward (141 pounds) got the first takedown in the first period and piled up 1:02 of riding time. That was the difference as Ward beat Jack, 3-2 on the point awarded due to riding time. Collegiate athletes earn one point for any riding time over one minute.

Tied at 2-2 after two periods and with the 1:02 of riding time, Ward, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, chose to go neutral in the third period and he spent two minutes deflecting takedown attempts from No. 3 Jack (26-5) to earn All-American honors.

In the first period, Ward got the takedown, swooping in to get a single leg and had Jack hopping on one foot. Ward tripped Jack to the mat to get the takedown. Jack escaped shortly afterward to cut the lead to one. In the second period, Jack started on bottom but it took him about a minute to escape and tie the match at 2-2.

After dropping a 5-4 decision on riding time to former Wolfpack teammate Bryce Meredith of Wyoming on Friday, Jack had won two straight consolation round matches to get into position to wrestle for All-American honors.

Meredith, who wrestled at 133 last year for North Carolina State, beat No. 2 Joey McKenna of Stanford, 4-3, to earn a spot in Saturday’s final. “Everybody in the country has known that this weight could be blown wide open by anybody, and being put at the 14 seed, I wasn't worried about it,” Meredith said. “I knew I was going to get there really no matter where I was at in the bracket. I knew I could beat anybody at any given moment.”

Jack, the sophomore from Danbury who won 20 of his final 22 matches of the season, dominated in an 11-5 win over Hofstra’s Jamel Hudson and outlasted No. 11 Thomas Thorn of Minnesota, 3-1.

The match was scoreless into the second period when Thorn escaped to take a 1-0 lead. In the third period, Jack escaped with eight seconds gone to tie the bout at 1-1.

Jack took a 3-1 lead with a takedown with 47 seconds left in regulation and rode out Thorn (36-11) for the victory. It was Jack’s second win of the season over Thorn. He previously won, 10-4 in November.

Against Hofstra’s Jamal Hudson, Jack was in control from the start. He got the first takedown of the match and held a 3-2 lead in the waning seconds of the period. Jack’s takedown with 17 seconds left in the first period gave him a commanding 5-2 edge.

After an escape 10 seconds into the period, Jack added another takedown to extend his lead to 8-2.

Jack was trying to become the just the fifth Connecticut wrestler to ever earn All-American honors at the NCAA Division I national championships. Jack finished fifth at 141 a year ago to become the first Connecticut-born wrestler to earn All-American honors since 2000.

Binghamton’s Jack McKeever (174) was eliminated in the morning, losing to No. 15 Brian Harvey of Army, 5-2. It was the third time this season that Harvey had beaten McKeever with victories in a dual meet and a 4-3 OT victory at the recent EIWA Tournament.

Against Harvey, McKeever (24-10) gave up a takedown early. Harvey, a three-time NCAA qualifier, accumulated riding time for much of the first period, earning a minute-plus and a 2-0 advantage through three minutes. Harvey picked up more riding time in the second, forcing McKeever to choose neutral to open the third frame.

Trailing 3-0, McKeever attempted to force the action as he looked to rally. He eventually posted a late takedown, but it was not enough, as Harvey came away with the win. McKeever wrapped up his career with 67 career victories and appeared at the NCAA championships twice.

Two Connecticut wrestlers still alive at NCAA Division I nationals

NEW YORK, March 17 – The NCAA Division I wrestling tournament is always full of surprises. In the first round, 28 seeded wrestlers lost.

Danbury’s Kevin Jack, the No. 3 seed from North Carolina State at 141 pounds, was upset Thursday night in the second round, falling to former Wolfpack teammate Bryce Meredith of Wyoming, 5-4 on riding time. The win pushes Jack (25-4) into the consolation round beginning on Friday.

Jack will be one of two Connecticut wrestlers competing in the consolation round on Friday morning at Madison Square Garden. Brookfield senior Jack McKeever (174) of Binghamton dropped his opening round matches only to win his first consolation round matches and survived.

Granby native Dominick Malone (133) of Northwestern lost his opener, dominated his initial consolation round bout but was eliminated in a third match. Shelton senior Patrick Gillen (285) of Virginia lost his two matches and was eliminated.

Over 17,800 fans filled MSG for both sessions on Thursday to watch the action. The evening session was sold out.

In his tournament opener, Jack won his 18th consecutive match with a 5-0 win over unseeded Danny Sabatello of Purdue. A takedown with eight seconds left in the second period gave Jack an early 2-0 lead. Sabatello hesitated for a second and Jack pounced on him for the takedown.

Jack extended his lead to 3-0 with an early third period escape and when Sabatello again hesitated on the edge of the mat, Jack again pounced on him for a takedown with 25 seconds left and a 5-0 lead.

In the second round, Jack ran into trouble against Meredith, a former Wolfpack teammate. Meredith got the first takedown to take a 2-0 lead with 30 seconds left in the first period before Jack got a reversal with 11 seconds left in the period.

In the second period, Meredith took the lead with a reversal 12 seconds into the period for a 4-2 lead. Jack escaped 40 seconds later to cut the lead to one, 4-3.

In the third period, Jack escaped with 1:11 remaining to tie the match at 4-4 but Meredith amassed 1:30 in riding time (worth an extra point) so Jack strove for the takedown. In a scramble, Jack had one of Meredith’s shoulders on the mat but he wasn’t in control and Meredith advanced with a 5-4 decision thanks to the riding time point.

Jack will face Jamel Hudson (22-10) of Hofstra in his first match on Friday morning.

Malone (23-13) was pinned in his opening match of the tournament to No. 11 Dom Fory of Pittsburgh. But Malone came back with a vengeance in his first consolation round match with a dominating 14-1 win over Caleb Richardson of Pennsylvania.

Malone had a takedown and four-point near fall in the first period to take command. An early second period escape and another takedown gave him a 9-0 lead.

In his second consolation match of the evening, Malone was eliminated when he was pinned by Arizona State’s Dalton Brady in 6:35. Malone trailed 2-1 after one period but took a 3-2 with 1:13 left in the second period with a two-point near fall. Brady tied the match with an escape with 1:05 to go and took a 5-3 lead with a takedown with 10 seconds left in the period.

In the third period, Malone escaped six seconds into the period to cut the lead to one.

Brady got a takedown with 27 seconds left to take control of the match and won by a pin shortly afterward to end the season for Malone.

McKeever (28-11) had a tough opening match with No. 16 Micah Barnes of Nebraska in a 4-0 loss. In the consolation round, McKeever faced Harvard’s Josef Johnson who beat McKeever at the recent EIWA Tournament. Johnson took a 2-0 lead with a first period takedown.

McKeever tied the match with an escape in the first period and a second escape with 1:44 left in the second period. But Johnson had 1:05 in riding time and potentially, a game-winning point.

With about 1:20 left in the third period, McKeever quickly got inside and secured a double leg takedown. He was able to get Johnson off his feet and took him to the mat for a takedown and a 4-2 lead. McKeever was able to tie up Johnson’s legs and use strong half nelsons to ride out the match and earn the win.

McKeever will face Army’s No. 15 Brian Harvey in the consolation round on Friday morning.

Gillen (17-16) was dominated by No. 5 seed Adam Coon of Michigan, who had six takedowns before he won by pin in 4:22. Coon (19-2) had an 8-3 lead after one period.

In the consolation bracket, Gillen gave up four takedowns in a 9-4 loss to No. 12 Billy Smith of Rutgers in the consolation round and was eliminated. Twice, Gillen made the attempt to get the takedown but Smith was able to come away with the two points including one takedown with two seconds left in the first period to extend his lead to 4-1.

This was Gillen’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.